DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina imposed a nationwide curfew last week and used the army to quell protests against job quotas that killed nearly 150 people, but anger against her government does not seem to have abated.
The protests, which started in universities and colleges earlier this month, quickly turned into a more widespread agitation against Hasina and her government.
Police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and lobbed sound grenades to disperse tens of thousands of protesters who came out on the streets. The government denied any live rounds were fired, but hospital sources said dead and injured people had wounds from bullets and shot gun pellets.
Rights groups and critics say Hasina has become increasingly autocratic during her last 15 years in power and her rule has been marked by mass arrests of political opponents and activists, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, charges she denies.
Badiul Alam Majumdar, the secretary of Shushahoner Jonno Nagorik, a Dhaka-based civil society platform for good governance, said the protests were “just the tip of the iceberg” and the use of force against students will breed further discontent against Hasina’s government.
“People are being deprived of their basic rights, with a significant lack of human rights and justice. They can’t cast their votes freely,” he said. “This widespread frustration and anger among the people is evident in the protests.”
Government official were not immediately available for comment. But officials have said previously no students were involved in arson or violence, and instead blamed opposition parties.
Hasina, 76, first led her Awami League party to victory in elections in 1996, serving one five-year term before regaining power in 2009, never to lose again.
She won a fourth straight term in office in January elections that were boycotted by the main opposition party and also marred by deadly protests.
While Hasina managed to overcome discontent and return the country toward some normalcy this week, it will not be “business as usual” going forward, said Zafar Sobhan, the editor of English daily Dhaka Tribune.
“This crisis shows that the government needs to listen to the young people of the country and take their concerns seriously,” said Sobhan, adding that the quota issue served as a proxy for several other key issues.
“The government has been put on notice that enough is enough and it needs to address the legitimate concerns of the public,” he said.
‘MURDERS SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED’
Asif Mahmud, a student leader, told Reuters that he was abducted and abused by authorities for four days and then dumped on the road this week. His allegations could not be independently verified and government officials could not be immediately reached for comment on a holiday.
“There have been killings, nobody is addressing that,” Mahmud said. “These murders should be investigated. Those who ran this massacre, we will demand their prompt punishment.”
The United Nations, international rights groups, the US and Britain have criticized the use of force and asked Dhaka to uphold the right to peaceful protests.
Hasina said she was forced to impose the curfew to protect citizens and state property, blaming the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami party for the violence, charges they denied.
Tarique Rahman, the exiled acting chairman of BNP, said that Hasina was involved in “mass murder” during the protests.
The daughter of the country’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, Hasina has been credited with turning around the economy and the massive garments industry.
But the economy has also slowed sharply since the Russia-Ukraine war pushed up prices of fuel and food imports, forcing Bangladesh to turn last year to the International Monetary Fund for a $4.7 billion bailout.
Experts have blamed the latest unrest on stagnant job growth in the private sector and high rates of youth unemployment that have made government jobs, with their regular wage hikes and other privileges, more attractive.
Failing to tame inflation, which currently hovers around 10 percent, and unemployment was not due to a dearth of options but rather due to a lack of political will, the experts said.
“One critical policy approach could have been to increase investment into the services sectors like health and education where it would be possible to create more decent jobs, especially for the educated and relatively young people,” said Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, chairman of Dhaka think tank Research and Policy Integration for Development.
Bangladesh protests quelled but anger, discontent remain
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Bangladesh protests quelled but anger, discontent remain
- The protests, which started in universities and colleges this month, quickly turned into a more widespread agitation against government
- Police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and lobbed sound grenades to disperse tens of thousands of protesters who came out on the streets
Heavy shelling, explosions spark fear along Pakistan-Afghanistan border
- Residents fear for their safety amid border clashes
- 1,500 Afghan families displaced due to heavy shelling and explosions
- Pakistan denies targeting civilians, says its strikes focus on militants
LAL PUR, Afghanistan/PESHAWAR, Pakistan: People living along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan said they were considering fleeing their homes because of heavy shelling and explosions as fighting between troops from both sides entered a seventh day on Wednesday.
The South Asian allies-turned-foes have engaged in their worst fighting in years following Pakistani airstrikes on major Afghan cities last week, increasing volatility in a region also on edge over US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Islamabad has said its airstrikes, which have at times directly targeted the Taliban government, are aimed at ending Afghan support for militants carrying out attacks on Pakistan. The Taliban has denied aiding militant groups.
SHELLING STARTS AS VILLAGERS ARE BREAKING RAMADAN FAST
Residents of towns and villages in Pakistan’s northwest said fighting between border forces starts in the evenings, placing their homes in the line of fire, often at sunset when families are breaking their fast in the holy month of Ramadan.
“There is complete silence in the day, but the moment we sit for iftar dinner, the two sides start shelling,” Farid Khan Shinwari from Landi Kotal, a town near the Torkham border crossing, told Reuters.
“We open our fast in extremely difficult situations, as you never know when a shell can hit your house.”
Residents in the town and nearby villages said there had been heavy shelling and some explosions heard in the past few days, prompting many to flee their homes.
On the other side of the border, Afghans shared similar stories of skirmishes and families fleeing their homes.
Hundreds had been displaced to an open dirt field under makeshift tents, while others had no shelter at all. Officials say around 1,500 families have fled their homes.
Fighting along the 2,600-km (1,615-mile) border has ebbed and flowed over the week-long conflict, with both sides saying they have inflicted heavy losses on the other country and gained ground in the fighting.
Reuters has been unable to verify these accounts.
TURKEY HAS OFFERED TO MEDIATE
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that Ankara would help reinstate a ceasefire, the Turkish Presidency said on Tuesday, as other countries that had offered to mediate have since been hit by the conflict in the Gulf.
On Wednesday, both countries reported exchanges of heavy fire, with Afghanistan’s defense ministry saying Taliban forces shot down a Pakistani drone and captured seven border posts.
A spokesperson for the ministry said 110 civilians, including 65 women and children, had been killed since the fighting began and another 123 were wounded. The United Nations mission for Afghanistan has listed 42 deaths so far.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar disputed both figures, saying: “Pakistan exercises great care in only targeting terrorists and support infrastructure. No civilian structures have been targeted.”
On Saturday, Pakistan struck “ammunition and critical equipment” at the Bagram air base north of Kabul, Tarar said, a key American command center through the 20-year Afghan war.
